Write One Page Per Day – 181/365 – June 30, 2018

“Do you have a reeve, or mayor, in town?” I asked, “Have they notified the King?”

“You’re not from here are you? We have no king, nor reeves. Our little hamlet is located too far from Barmwich for the Mage council to care about us. It’s a Sipsey problem, so it’s one that we need to take care of ourselves.” Galter said as we reached a small house. “This is where I live, I’d recommend staying up high tonight so the wolves don’t get you.”

“Thank you for the information and your kind words tonight, Galter.” I said, “I’m sure I’ll see you in the morning.”

As he closed the door I heard the faint bleating of sheep to the north of me.

There’s no better place to start looking for wolves, than by following their prey, I thought.

I walked up the road toward a small farm-house nestled between two larger homes. Behind it I could see a small shack being used as a barn and a simple wood fence surrounding the pen.

I walked around the side to find the sheep all pressed into a corner, their bleating was becoming more panicked now. I looked for the source of their alarm to see a wolf peeking around the corner of the shed.

I drew my bow, along with an arrow and dropped low, trying not to draw the attention of the creature. The wolf lunged suddenly for the sheep and I loosed my arrow. It sank into the beast’s neck, dropping it to the ground. Before I could draw another, a second wolf, larger than any wolf I had ever seen before, emerged from behind one of the houses.

I watched in horror as this horse sized canine jumped over a log to the pen and bent its head to pick up one of the sheep. Its jaw covered the sheep’s midsection nearly top to bottom as it lifted the animal. I grabbed another arrow just as it turned to leave, and loosed it as I began pursuit.

The arrow landed in the monster’s pelt, but it didn’t seem to notice as it jumped from the ground to the roof of one of the homes. It ran along, jumping from rooftop to rooftop before reaching the edge of the hamlet where it launched itself over the wall.

I stopped running, knowing I couldn’t keep up with the creature. I stood there, stunned by what I saw, wondering how something so large could successfully hide itself from a tracker. I would need to speak with the local hunter in the morning…